Welcome to SuperStock

The Leader in Premium Stock Photography,
Illustration & Video

Drones of a Feather

By SuperStock Staff Writer - Tom Sheeter on September 25, 2018

Thanks to high-resolution cameras and better stabilization and navigation, drone photography has moved beyond novelty. Drones now capture sweeping vistas and real-time details of dangerous and dramatic situations, such as wildfires and volcanic eruptions. Aerial photographers have job opportunities in advertising, the military and emergency management, in addition to business services related to real estate and resource management.

Drones help photographers elevate their craft. National Geographic features stunning examples of aerial photography submitted to their annual Dronestagram contest. Thousands of photographers from around the world share beyond-birds-eye views in four categories: Nature, People, Urban, and Creativity.

We would be tempted to name our drone photography competition the Neubronner Awards, after the German who first strapped cameras to homing pigeons in the early 1900s. (His competitors were mounting cameras on kites.)

Neubronner spent decades perfecting and patenting a miniature camera and harness as well as a mobile dovecote. Eventually, “war pigeons” aided battlefield reconnaissance during World War I. The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., dedicates a display to carrier pigeons and wartime pigeon photography.